Modeling Good Speech Reduces the Need for Speech Therapy

Modeling back good speech is a powerful way to help children learn speech sounds and good grammar. In some cases it can even decrease the need for speech-language therapy.

For sounds:

• When your child says a word and “misses” a sound say the word back to them in a very positive way placing emphasis on the sound that they had problems with. Place emphasis by saying the sound louder, longer, by tapping your finger on the side of your mouth when you say the sound and by repeating it. If he said “The tat is nice” you could say “Yes, that is a very nice cat. I like cats. I think the cat likes you. Look the cat has a brown foot.” By repeating the word several times you are adding power to the modeling. Of course you would never want to correct your child in a way that would make them feel bad about how they are talking. Saying “No that’s not the right sound. Say it this way, say cat.”, only makes your child feel bad about their talking.
• Once your child has gotten fairly good at saying the sounds you could draw their attention to problem sounds a bit more by asking if they heard the right sound when they say a word. If he tried to say “spoon” and it came out “poon”, you could say, “Hmmm, I didn’t hear the snake (s) sound, did you? Lets try again.” Giving sounds labels such as “the snake sound” often helps younger children understand what you mean. Make sure to also point out times where your child has gotten sounds that he is working on right. Especially praise times where your child goes back and “fixes” sounds on his own.

Modeling Craft Ideas for Kids

The technique of modeling dough had its beginnings with the Classical Romans, Greeks and Egyptians when they would pay homage to their gods with offerings of figures made from dough. Later in nineteenth century Germany salt was added to stop mice eating the creations.

Today modeling is particularly suitable as a craft idea for kids of any age. It is soft, safe, non-toxic and great fun. Although the children can use polymer clay and self hardening clays salt dough clay is great fun to make.

You will need very little for this craft idea for kids and will probably have most of the items in your home. Items such as paint, varnish, pastry cutters, moulds, bowl and rolling pin will probably be enough. For the actual bread dough recipe you will need plain flour (not self-raising), salt and water.

Recipe:

2 cups plain flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

Mix together flour, salt and half the water in the mixing bowl. Knead the mixture adding more water gradually until it is smooth and firm. Do not add too much water as it will become sticky and sag. Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead for a further 10 minutes. It is best to leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes in an air tight container.

By adding 1 tablespoon on vegetable oil you will add suppleness to the dough or 1 tablespoon of wallpaper paste for elasticity.

Model the dough into desired shapes and bake at 120 deg C or 250 deg F until completely hard all over. It is important to place the finished craft objects in a dry atmosphere and not in a steamy or damp area as they may deteriorate. The dough crafts can be left natural, painted and varnished or the dough can colored with food coloring before baking. Anything that is heatproof can be used, such as broken china but do keep an eye on the kids near the oven.